How to bag up on redfins
The roach is still the UK angler’s favourite fish and the most obliging of all species that swim in our waters.
They are present virtually everywhere, and the warmer weather opens up a range of ways to catch them. John Wilson once described roach fishing as ‘a disease, but of the pleasant kind’ and he wasn’t far wrong.
Most tactics work, from a feeder cast to the horizon to a delicately-shotted waggler presented just a few rodlengths out, but nothing beats winkling a few out from a natural lake where the water is on the clear side and the fish won’t give themselves up easily. Such a venue presents its own challenges but the rewards are there and the fish can be surprisingly big, too.
To help you on your way, we asked four top anglers for their answers to six common questions on catching stillwater roach…
Q. When would you use groundbait over loosefeed and what would be the mix?
Sean Ashby: I’d always use groundbait. Loosefeeding alone brings the fish off bottom, which isn’t what you want to happen. I use 50/50 Sensas Gros Gardons and Canal Fine Noire, mixed on the dry side to make it very active. I will loosefeed too, but only over the top every now and then.
Cameron Hughes: Generally, for roach on a natural venue, I will always put some groundbait in. This gets a bed down early for roach to graze on and settle over. Which groundbait I decide to use depends very much on the depth of the swim, but I always base my mix around the reliable Sensas Gros Gardons.
Lee Kerry: I will use groundbait to concentrate the shoal, but it’s loosefeed that really gets them competing. On harder natural venues my mix is Sonubaits Supercrumb Lake, over which I’ll periodically loosefeed maggots.
Steve Hemingray: In clear conditions it’s loosefeed alone but with colour in the water groundbait becomes a must. Normally I feed groundbait at the start, then loosefeed over the top. My mix is Sensas Gros Gardons with casters, a little chopped worm and sometimes dead maggots and pinkies.
Q. If the roach show signs of coming off bottom, is it worth shallowing up for them and if so, what’s the rig to catch them?
Sean Ashby: When roach move up and down in the water it’s hard to judge where they are. By pinning the fish to the bottom, you’ll catch more consistently so if I think the roach have come up in the water, the solution is to fire in two pouches of casters every 10 minutes to force them back down.
Cameron Hughes: If roach come off bottom, you need to work out whether it’s worth trying to pin them down on the deck again. In this situation I feed a big pouch of casters and catch as many as I can before bites slow up. If it’s too deep for this to work, pack a groundbait ball with casters and fish it out.
Lee Kerry: If the roach have come only a foot or so off the lakebed then I’ll still back myself to catch using the rig I was fishing on the deck, but if the roach are beyond half-depth you can still catch them, but with a different approach. My float in this case would be a 4x12 Des Shipp Silvers pattern with strung-out No10 shot.
Steve Hemingray: If the roach are off bottom they want to be, so this is where you should try and catch them. However, they could be at 5ft deep in 10ft of water so a very small float might not work. My favourite patterns are the Drennan AS3 or Carbon Roach in sizes 4x14 or 4x12 with a strung-out shotting pattern.
Q. What’s your number one hook pattern for stillwater roach, and in which sizes?
Sean Ashby: I’d go for the Sensas 3210 barbed pattern. If it was barbless only, I’d use some very old Drennan red hooks that I don’t think are made any more! You want ta very light fine wire pattern in size 18, perhaps only changing to a size 16 if you are fishing bigger baits or a few bream are likely to be about.
Cameron Hughes: Hooks are really a confidence thing and for natural venues that are a little harder I use a Sensas 3260 in a size 18. In Ireland, and on other venues that are equally prolific, my favourite is a Tubertini Series 2 in anything from a size 16 to a 12!
Lee Kerry: My barbed hooks of choice are Preston Innovations PR322, with a long shank and a good round bend for fishing maggots and casters. On barbless venues I switch to the PR412, a similar hook but barbless. Sizes depend on the bait and how good the fishing is, so this could be anything from a size 16 to a 20.
Steve Hemingray: On barbless-only venues I like the Drennan Silverfish Match is sizes 20 or 18 for single maggot or caster or pieces of worm. A 16 is for really good days when double baits score well. My barbed choice is the Drennan Carbon Match in a size 20 or 18, depending on the hookbait being used.
Q. Do you have a number one hookbait to pick out the bigger roach?
Sean Ashby: There’s only one bait for big roach, and that has to be casters. However, although double caster has a great track record, I rarely use it and instead stick to a single bait with the hook buried fully inside it. Catching big roach is really all about subtle presentation of the hookbait.
Cameron Hughes: That has to be casters! Double caster is a favourite of mine in Ireland and it certainly picks out the bigger roach.
Lee Kerry: Caster is a reliable big roach bait fished single or double but anther bait that’s often overlooked is a small piece of worm or the head of a worm. This really does pick out the bigger roach and you can catch several on the same bait. I find that if I can catch roach on a piece of worm, then I’m going to be in for a good day!
Steve Hemingray: Casters are most anglers’ favourite, but I’ve caught so many big roach on a section of worm. Redworms are also brilliant fished as a tail section teamed with loosefed casters.
Q. When does the feeder come into play for catching roach?
Sean Ashby: I’d switch to a feeder only if the fish were out of pole range or there wasn’t enough depth on the pole line. That would only be as a last resort, though, because in my experience the feeder isn’t ideal for catching roach. I find I miss too many bites, even on prolific venues.
Cameron Hughes: The feeder is becoming more and more popular for catching roach, and it certainly works if the fish are out of pole range or want to be feeding in a certain depth. Ireland is a great place for this style of fishing, with Inniscarra Lake a reliable venue for bagging up on the feeder.
Lee Kerry: Distance is what governs whetherI fish a feeder for roach. If the fish are beyond 30m out that’s too far even for a waggler, so the feeder is your only option – but I’d always want to try and catch on the pole, even if the water was relatively shallow on this line, as this method offers such superior presentation and accuracy.
Steve Hemingray: I’d only think of fishing the feeder for roach on big lakes at long range. You need to be very active, filling the feeder with lots of casters, fishing a long hooklink with floating maggot on the hook and never leaving the feeder in for more than a few minutes. Most bites come as the feeder settles.
Q. When faced with large numbers of small roach would you fish the whip or stick to short-lining on the pole?
Sean Ashby: I prefer short-lining on the pole because presentation is so much better and you can follow the fish about. Big roach will hang off the back of the feed and, on a whip, you won’t have the range to go after them. Any wind also makes presentation on a whip poor, so unless it was black with fish at short range I’d stick to the pole.
Cameron Hughes: A whip is a great way to catch lots of small roach quickly but sometimes you can catch them too quickly too early, which may spook the shoal. Short-lining is generally
a better option for not disturbing the shoal, so I’d start on the long pole and then look to change to a whip later on when the peg is really into its stride.
Lee Kerry: I’d try to draw the fish in as close as I could but I wouldn’t use a whip. Control of the rig and bait presentation are nowhere near as good as with the pole so in the long run you get more bites short-lining. If I was tempted to fish a whip conditions would have to be perfect, with little wind, just a light breeze blowing over my shoulder.
Steve Hemingray: With a whip you lose a lot of presentation and although you may think that you are catching quicker, you’re really not. Unless there were a lot of very small roach in the swim that weren’t that concerned about bad presentation, I’d always stick to short-lining, as bites will come faster and you’ll connect with more of the fish.